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Sens. David Vitter, R-La., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., have asked the Environmental Protection Agency to consider different methods for calculating methane emissions from natural gas production after a recent report found 10% less methane is emitted than the agency has estimated. The study measured methane from shale gas wells created by fracking. The EPA is reviewing the results, it told the lawmakers at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee on oversight.

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Sens. David Vitter, R-La., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., have asked the Environmental Protection Agency to consider different methods for calculating methane emissions from natural gas production after a recent report found 10% less methane is emitted than the agency has estimated. David Allen, a University of Texas professor and chair of AIChE's International Society of Water Solutions, led the study, which measured methane from shale gas wells created by fracking. The EPA is reviewing the results, it told the lawmakers at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works' subcommittee on oversight.

Republican senators who attended the subcommittee hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on Tuesday questioned the Environmental Protection Agency's estimate on U.S. hydraulic fracturing emissions, which is 10% higher than the result of a recent study. The study, which was conducted by the University of Texas, found that government actions to regulate new natural gas wells can cut emissions by 99% and that the amount of emissions from fracking is actually 10% lower than the EPA estimate. The study was funded by nine natural gas firms and the Environmental Defense Fund.

Hydraulic fracturing leaks fewer tons of methane every year than estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a study by researchers at the University of Texas. The oil and natural gas industry was pleased that the study found that only 1 million tons of methane is leaked per year. The study was funded by the Environmental Defense Fund and nine oil firms. "The industry has led efforts to reduce emissions of methane by developing new technologies and equipment, and these efforts are paying off," said Howard Feldman, American Petroleum Institute's director of regulatory and scientific affairs.

Attorneys general from 13 energy-producing states, led by Oklahoma's Scott Pruitt, sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency urging it not to buckle under pressure from six Northeast states seeking federal oversight of hydraulic fracturing. "EPA has appropriately declined to regulate methane emissions from new and existing oil and gas facilities under the Clean Air Act," Pruitt wrote. "It is abundantly clear that EPA should not succumb to the pressure intended by the northeastern states."

The Environmental Protection Agency is miscalculating methane emissions from wells drilled using hydraulic fracturing, Devon Energy is expected to say today during a Senate committee hearing. "This overestimate has allowed EPA to justify the promulgation of new air standards for the natural gas industry. More important, we continue to see new policy research being based on a foundation of this bad data -- guaranteeing that the wrong conclusions are reached," according to scheduled testimony by Darren Smith, Devon's manager for environment, health and safety.